C-U Immigration Forum

The Champaign-Urbana Immigration Forum is a group of immigrants, students, clergy, service providers, labor union representatives, residents and community organizations concerned about the progress and plight of immigrants in the Champaign County community.

What Are Our Concerns:

Our nation has a proud and long tradition of welcoming immigrants from around the world as symbolized by the Statute of Liberty. But too often, bigotry and discrimination against new immigrants has been a common response. The C-U Immigration Forum rejects such attitudes and works to celebrate the diversity and contributions of all immigrants in our community.

Around 11 million undocumented immigrants are living and working within U.S. borders without a realistic path to citizenship. Our government’s focus on enforcement-only policies has not substantially reduced that number, but has led to the tearing apart of families, human rights abuses, racial profiling, and even death.

A related issue is that 65,000 undocumented students graduate every year from high school without “papers.” These are young people born outside of the United States who were educated in American schools, hold American values, know only the U.S. as home and who, upon high school graduation, find the door to their future slammed shut. Access to post high-school education is for them difficult if not impossible. This is a waste to all concerned – students, their families, the community at large. Recent policy changes under DACA are a start but the full incorporation of these young people is a neccessity.

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